Rome: With just over a week to go before they open their World Cup campaign, Italian coach Marcello Lippi knows his team are still lacking pace and sharpness but is convinced they can peak at the right time.
Friday's scoreless draw with Ukraine, 48 hours after a 1-1 stalemate with Switzerland, extended the Azzurri's unbeaten run to 18 matches but the players know they will have to perform much better to put together a good run in Germany.
"We have to improve progressively. It would be wrong to be at our best as early as June 12 (when they play Ghana in Group E)," he was quoted as saying in La Gazzetta dello Sport on Saturday.
"If we want to go all the way at the World Cup we have to peak around the middle of the tournament."
The area that gave him most concern is his attack were Francesco Totti's performances against Switzerland and Ukraine that showed how far he still has to come before regaining his best form.
The Roma striker, who has only made three competitive outings since fracturing a bone in his ankle in February, has often been described as the lynchpin of Italy's World Cup bid.
On this week's evidence he could be more of a liability.
In Totti's absence, Lippi has usually fallen back on Alessandro Del Piero but the Juventus forward is also out of sorts and struggled to link up with fellow strikers Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni during the Ukraine match.
At least the players are optimistic that there is still time to iron out the problems. "It's undeniable that we lack speed and sharpness," said Toni. "But when we have some of our players back to their best - like (midfielder Mauro) Camoranesi, Del Piero and Totti - there will not be any more problems."
Right-back Massimo Oddo, one of Italy's strongest performers against Ukraine, said many of Italy's difficulties were simply down to tiredness.
"A lot of us had played just two days before but we are getting better all the time. In a week's time we will be ready." Italy also face the Czech Republic and the United States in the group.
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